Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh (1 February 1878 - 3 May 1916) was a nationalist Irish poet and playwright, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Life Youth MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. He grew up in a household filled with music, poetry, and learning, and was instilled with a love of both English and Irish culture from a young age. Both his parents were teachers; there was a strong emphasis on education. He attended[Rockwell College. He got a calling. He hoped to become a priest or brother. He spent years studying the vocation. After a few years he realized that it wasn't the life for him, and left. He abandoned a vocation for the priesthood to live privately as a teacher and writer. Very soon after, he published his first book of poems, Through the Ivory Gate, in 1902. He moved to Dublin where he joined the Gaelic League, soon establishing strong friendships with such men as Eoin MacNeill and Patrick Pearse. Teaching career His friendship with Pearse and his love of Irish led him to join the staff of Pearse's bilingual St. Enda's School upon its establishment in 1908, taking the role of teacher and Assistant Headmaster. He also founded the teachers' trade union ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland). Though MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, he left to study in France, and upon taking a master's degree moved on to take the position of lecturer in English at the National University. MacDonagh remained devoted to the Irish language, and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of the Gaelic League, Joseph Plunkett. The two were both poets with an interest in the Irish Theatre, and formed a lifelong friendship. On January 3. 1912, he married Muriel Gifford, a Protestant who converted to Catholicism after his death (neither of them, as he noted in a letter to his friend Dominick Hackett, had any time for formal religion); their son, Donagh, was born on St Cecilia's Day, November 22, and their daughter, Barbara, on March 24 1915. One of Muriel's sisters, Grace Gifford, was to marry MacDonagh's friend Joseph Plunkett just hours before his execution on May 4, 1916. Republicanism In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers and were placed on its Provisional Committee. McDonagh was later appointed commandant of Dublin's 2nd battalion, and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade. Though originally more of a constitutionalist, through his dealings with men such as Pearse, Plunkett, and Sean MacDermott, MacDonagh developed stronger republican beliefs, joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), probably during the summer of 1915. Around this time Tom Clarke asked him to plan the huge funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, which was a resounding propaganda success, largely due to the "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace" graveside oration delivered by Pearse. Easter Rising Though credited as one of the Easter Rising's 7 leaders, MacDonagh was a late addition to that group. It is thought that he did not join the secret Military Council that planned the rising until April 1916, weeks before the rising took place (though Honor O'Brolchain's work on Plunkett suggests otherwise). MacDonagh was a signatory of the Proclamation of the Republic, and it is clear from its style that he was a central member of the committee that wrote the Proclamation. During the rising, MacDonagh's battalion was stationed at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. On the way to this destination the battalion encountered the veteran Fenian, John MacBride, who on the spot joined the battalion as second-in-command, and in fact took over part of the command throughout Easter Week, although he had had no prior knowledge and was in the area by accident. MacDonagh's original second in command was to have been Michael O'Hanrahan.http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/index.asp?docID=2518 MacDonagh passed Captain Richard MacCormack in Grafton Street on the way to occupy their posts - MacCormack marching his men to Harcourt Street Station and MacDonagh to Jacob's, and MacDonagh called over to him: "Above all, avoid unnecessary bloodshed." The Jacob's garrison held the redoubt with little fighting, as the British Army avoided the factory as they established positions in central Dublin. MacDonagh received Pearse's note of surrender on April 30, and at first refused to accept an order to surrender given by a prisoner; his entire battalion was fully prepared to continue the engagement. He was persuaded to accept Pearse's decision to end the loss of civilian life caused by British shelling and machine-gunning of Dublin city and its citizens. Following the surrender, MacDonagh was court martialled, and executed by firing squad on 3 May 1916, aged thirty-eight. His widow, Muriel, died of heart failure while swimming in Skerries, Co Dublin on July 9, 1917; his son Donagh MacDonagh became a prominent poet, playwright, songwriter and judge, and father of 4 children. He died in 1968. His daughter Barbara MacDonagh married the actor Liam Redmond and was mother of four children. MacDonagh's extended family were spread across Ireland, Britain and the United States in the Irish diaspora. MacDonagh was credited with being one of the most gregarious and personable of the rising's leaders. Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, a sister of Joseph Plunkett. gives a contemporary description of him in her book All in the Blood: "As soon as Tomás came into our house everyone was a friend of his. He had a pleasant, intelligent face and was always smiling, and you had the impression that he was always thinking about what you were saying." Mary Colum, an early girlfriend of MacDonagh's writes in her memoir Life and the Dream ''of hearing about the Rising from America, where she was living with her husband, Pádraic Colum, and remembering Tomás MacDonagh saying to her: "This country will be one entire slum unless we get into action, in spite of our literary movements and Gaelic Leagues it is going down and down. There is no life or heart left in the country." Recognition A prominent figure in the Dublin literary world, he was commemorated in several poems by W.B. Yeats, who wrote of his poems "how daring and sweet in his thought" and in his friend Francis Ledwidge's "Lament for Thomas MacDonagh". Thomas MacDonagh Tower in Ballymun, Dublin, which was built in the 1960s and demolished in June 2005, was named after him, as wer the train station (MacDonagh Station) and shopping centre (MacDonagh Junction) in Kilkenny (as MacDonagh had taught in St Kierans College, Kilkenny City during the early years of his career). Like most of the 1916 leaders, he has no street named after him in the capital city of Ireland. Publications Poetry *''Through the Ivory Gate. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers, & Walker, 1902. *''April and May, with other verses''. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers, & Walker, 1903. *''Songs of Myself''. Dublin: Hodges Figgis, 1910. *''Lyrical Poems''. Dublin: Irish Review, 1913. *James Stephens, ed., The Poetical Works of Thomas MacDonagh (edited by James Stephens). Dublin: Talbot / London: Unwin, 1916. *''Poems'' (selected by his sister''. Dublin: Talbot, 1925.'' Plays *''When the Dawn Is Come''. Dublin: Maunsel, 1908 **(with introduction by C. Garrison & commentary by J. Norstedt). Chicago: De Paul University (Irish Drama Series, IX), 1973. *"Metempyschosis; or, A mad world", in Irish Review (February 1912), 585-99. *''Pagans''. London: Talbot / Unwin, 1920 **also published in Lost Plays of the Irish Renaissance, Vol II: Edward Martyn’s Irish theatre ''(edited by William Feeney). Dixon, CA: Proscenium Press, 1980, 53ff. Non-fiction *''Thomas Campion and the Art of English Poetry (M.A. thesis). Dublin: Hodges Figgis, 1913. *''Literature in Ireland: Studies in Irish and Anglo-Irish''. Dublin: Talbot / London: T. Fisher Unwin 1916. **(with introduction by Gerald Dawe). Nenagh: Relay Books 1996. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Ricorso.net.Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916), Ricorso.net. Web, Nov. 22, 2014. See also *List of Irish poets References * Gillan, Patrick. “MacDonagh, Thomas Stanislaus (1878-1916).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Notes External links ;Poems *Selected Poetry of Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916) (3 poems) at Representative Poetry Online. *Poetry at Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Center (7 poems) *Thomas MacDonagh at PoemHunter (95 poems) *Thomas MacDonagh at AllPoetry (96 poems) ;About *Thomas MacDonagh at The 1916 Rising, National Library of Ireland (.PDF) *Thomas MacDonagh and Cloughjordan at Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Center *"Poets Marched in the Van of Irish Revolt; Pearse and MacDonagh, Executed Last Week, Well Known for Their Verse" by Joyce Kilmer, New York Times May 7, 1916 *Thomas MacDonagh Official website. ;Etc. *Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Center Official website. Category:Irish poets Category:Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Category:People from County Tipperary Category:Executed writers Category:People executed by firing squad Category:20th-century executions by the United Kingdom Category:1878 births Category:1916 deaths Category:Executed Irish people Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Poets executed